Fucking Exams, Man
by BananaLover3902
Summary: It's that time again, when students all over are stressing out over their midterms. Thankfully Len has gotten over his nervousness over exams since freshman year. But not so thankfully, he seems to have fallen quite ill right before they started...


Rin trudged her way up the stairs towards her locker. She dropped her bag in front of it, ignoring her friend who had been waiting for her beside it. She twisted the lock in the correct directions and successfully opened it on the first try, a rare occurrence. After she got her correct binder, she threw her bag into her locker and slammed it shut. Her friend looked up at her, a blank expression on his face.

"You ready for exams?" Mikuo asked. Rin groaned.

"Absolutely not," she sighed. "I didn't have time to study for 7th period last night, because I needed to make a Quizlet for 4th."

"Rip," Mikuo replied. They walked over to the top of the stairs and set their stuff on the floor. They normally stood there in the mornings before class. Miku and Len typically joined them. Gumi occasionally joined them.

Today was the first day of exams. Pretty much every student was exhausted, in a bad mood, and stressed out. Rin and Mikuo didn't talk much. They both stayed up late the night before studying.

Rin heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. She looked over there, expecting to see Miku, and was surprised when she saw Len. He looked just as tired as everyone else.

"Hey," Rin said as he reached the top of the stairs. He looked at her and nodded, not saying anything. He dropped his binder on the floor and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. Rin furrowed her brows at him. Something wasn't right.

Len had a history of getting really stressed out during exams. Freshman year he was so worried that he literally made himself sick, and he had to sit in the office until he felt okay enough to take his test. Rin was worried he made himself sick again this year.

"You okay?" she asked, trying not to seem like it was obvious that he didn't look good. He tended to get embarrassed when people talked about him being sick.

Len opened his eyes slightly to look at her, then closed him again. He sighed heavily. "Yeah, I'm just really tired…" His voice sounded groggy, and he rubbed his eye with his fist as he spoke. "I didn't sleep well last night. I kept waking up." Rin pursed her lips. Normally he slept like a rock. But he probably was at least a little stressed about exams, that much was to be expected out of any student. Could have kept him up last night.

"Me too," Rin said. She hadn't gone to bed until one AM. She looked up at him, still worried he might be freaking out a little too much about exams. He didn't look particularly nervous, but over the years, he'd been getting better and better about hiding how he felt. He didn't like to draw attention to himself. Rin vividly remembered last year when he was feeling light headed, but didn't tell anyone, and ended up passing out at the top of the stairs at her house. Her mom thought he fucking died and almost called the police. Rin smiled at the memory. It was sort of cruel to think it was funny, but it was one of those things that after time passes, it become humorous.

"You ready for exams?" she asked. She didn't want to outright say "you feeling okay?", because his immediate response would have been "of course", even if it was a complete lie. She needed to weed it out of him if he was. He was looking a little paler than usual, so she wanted to be sure.

Len sighed again, shaking his head. "I haven't studied at all." he mumbled. He rubbed his eye again, morphing the motion into running his fingers through his bangs, pushing them off of his forehead. He held his hand there, not letting the hair fall back down. "I was super tired last night, so I went to bed at like...eight, but I felt really hot and couldn't fall asleep until eleven. Then I kept waking up in the middle of the night feeling hot." He sighed again and shook his head, letting go of his hair. He looked at her with half closed eyelids. "I honestly don't even care how I do on exams anymore. I just wanna go home and sleep." Rin furrowed her brows at him. She was going to ask him another question, but the bell rang, and they all had to go to their first period. She had second period with him though, so she would talk to him then.

Len headed downstairs to his first period class. It was a math class, but he was pretty good at math, so he didn't worry about studying for it during the twenty minute period they were given. He sat down in his desk and put his binder on top of it, not opening it. He was tempted to put his head down, but he knew the teacher would tell him to get busy working on something. He eventually opened up his Spanish textbook to a random page and pretended to read it. They didn't even have an exam in Spanish.

The class didn't get quiet like he'd expected. You'd think that people would be busy studying, but nope. Everyone was talking to each other the whole time. Len didn't have any friends in that class, and he was kind of glad. He didn't want to talk.

He felt like complete shit. His head was pounding, his stomach was boiling, and he felt incredibly hot. But when he touched his face, his hands felt like ice. He wanted to stay home today, but if he did that, he'd have to make up his 4th period exam, and he was not willing to do that.

His stomach bubbled silently. He was glad, that way no one else could hear it. No one else could tell how he felt. If someone thought he was sick, they would start spreading rumors and just make his day that much worse. It was best to just suffer in silence.

Towards the end of class though, he felt himself start to get incredibly hot. Chills ran down his spine though, making him shiver. He bit his lip. He could not throw up.

He stood up and walked over to the teacher's desk. "Can I fill up my water bottle?" he asked. The teacher nodded, never having looked up from his laptop. Len grabbed the pass and hurriedly walked out of the class. He walked past the classrooms with open doors, but sprinted down the hall when no one could see. He rushed into the bathroom and into a stall. He dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach. It hurt so fucking bad. The urge to vomit still plagued him, but he prayed it would go away as quickly as it came. He hated throwing up. He opened his mouth as he felt the acid start to come up his throat. He wanted to keep it closed and swallow it down, but his body forced it open. He coughed and gagged once, but nothing came up. After a while he calmed down and sat on the bathroom floor, panting silently. He needed to hurry up so his teacher wouldn't get suspicious.

Len palmed his tender abdomen, trying to coax it into relaxing, but it hardly did anything. He still felt like he was going to be sick, and his stomach hurt terribly. Last night he thought his room was just too hot. Maybe he was actually sick. He touched his forehead with his fingertips. They still felt like ice, but he couldn't tell if that was because of a fever or not, because the same thing happened when he touched his belly under his shirt. He bit his lip and willed himself to get up. If he didn't throw up now, then he was probably okay to go back to class. He stood up slowly and walked over to his locker, grabbing his water bottle. That's what he said he was doing anyway. He made his way back to class and set the pass down as quietly as he could to draw as little attention to himself as possible. The teacher still hadn't looked up from his laptop yet, so Len was pretty sure he didn't even notice how long he was gone. By that time everyone was just waiting for the teacher to tell them it was time to switch classes, since the bells were off. Len looked up at the clock. There were about two minutes left. He sat down at his desk and closed his binder, then rested his head on top of it. He waited for those two minutes to pass, and they did, but it seemed slower than usual. Everyone stood up and went to change classes.

Len took his time getting to second period. He was glad he had chemistry next, because his friend Rin was in that class with him. He needed someone to be there with him. He wasn't one to ask for comfort when he was ill, but he was just so exhausted and the pain was excruciating, that he thought he would start to cry if he had to deal with it quietly alone the whole day. That's the only downside of always hiding your feelings. Eventually you can't take it anymore and you just pour it all out to an unsuspecting friend who wasn't prepared for it. He didn't want to do that to someone, so he figured telling Rin about it now would make it so he didn't have a meltdown to her later. She was usually the one he opened up to anyways.

Rin was already in class by the time Len got in there. He wasn't surprised. He walked very slow so he didn't upset his stomach more. Rin smiled at him when she saw him, clearly in a better mood than when she first arrived at school. She waved at him. He was going to wave back, but he had his binder in one arm and his water bottle in the other, so he just half assed a smile and sat down at his desk. The teacher was nice and let them pick their seats, so they chose seats right next to each other. Rin scooted her desk up against his and opened her binder, prepared to have him help her study. She needed a study partner last period, but Mikuo and Gumi were busy with their own stuff, so she figured she would have Len do it during 2nd period. She knew he wouldn't tell her no, and he needed the extra studying anyway. His government exam wasn't today like hers was, but he still needed to study for it.

"Can you help me study for government, Lenny?" she asked sweetly. Len swallowed, then nodded. He couldn't say no to her. She smiled and pulled out her flashcards.

"I need you to read the definitions for me and I'll try to guess the term," she said. Len nodded and took the rubber band off of the stack and looked at the first one.

"Enlightenment philosopher who wrote the "Second Treatise of Government", greatly influenced the Declaration of Independence. Principles:Natural Rights and Consent of The Governed." He stumbled on the words a bit, feeling the burn of stomach acid in the back of his throat. He cleared his throat after he finished.

Rin furrowed her brows. She knew this one…"Ummmm….Jefferson?" Len shook his head. Rin pursed her lips. Enlightenment philosopher? She widened her eyes. "Oh, John Locke!" she exclaimed. Len nodded and put the card on the desk. He looked at the next one.

"A system in which the political power is divided among…" He paused to clear his throat again. "Is divided among…" He paused again, taking a deep breath. He was afraid if he kept talking, he would lose his breakfast all over the desk.

Rin furrowed her brows. "What's wrong?" she asked. He wasn't acting like himself.

Len set the cards down on the desk and put his head in his hands. His head was still pounding, and his ears felt like they would burst. His stomach was killing him too. Damn it, it wasn't worth it to be here.

Rin only grew concerned by his body language. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked. She kept her voice low so no one could hear her. She didn't want to embarrass him.

Len was thankful for her being quiet. He knew he had to tell her though. He was on the verge of tears already, and he hadn't even made it through two twenty minute periods yet. His stomach gurgled and made him flinch. He wanted to curl up into a ball and hold his stomach. Fuck, it hurt so bad…

"Rinny?" he whispered, his voice wavering. Rin could barely hear him. She waited for him to continue, not wanting to reply and accidentally talk over him since he was so quiet. "Can you feel my forehead and tell me if I have a fever?" he asked. Rin was taken aback by his request. Normally he tried his best to hide it from everyone. Why was he openly telling her that he thought he was sick?

"Yeah, of course," she said softly. Len slowly took his hands off his face and turned to face her. Rin bit her bottom lip and she looked at him. He was incredibly pale, and his nose and eyes were red, as if he had been crying. She gently rested her palm flat against his forehead. The intense heat almost felt like it would burn her hand. She left it there though. She knew he would appreciate the comfort of having someone else touch him so soothingly.

She looked into his eyes. "You're burning up," she whispered. Len let out a shaky breath, He figured he was sick, but it felt nice to know for sure. Rin left her hand on his forehead even though she didn't need to.

"Len, why are you still in school? You have a fever, you need to go home," she urged.  
They were best friends, the good kind of best friends who actually took care of each other and supported each other, and corrected each other when they were doing something bad. They looked out for each other.

"I know, I wanna go home," he mumbled. His breath hitched in his throat. Rin felt her heart start to break as she saw his eyes get glossy. He was about to cry. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead, then pulled him into a tight hug. She couldn't stand it when people cried around her. She felt like she had to do something to make it better, even if it wasn't her fault.

Len squeezed his eyes shut and allowed himself to relax in her arms. He wanted to squeeze her back, but he was too weak. "My head hurts, my stomach hurts, and I feel like I'm gonna throw up…" he whispered. "I just wanna go home. It's not worth it to stay anymore." Rin slowly rubbed his back to try and calm him down. She didn't want him to start crying in class. He was no doubt embarrassed that he was telling her all this, the last thing he needed was to be even more embarrassed that other students saw him crying.

"I'm sorry you aren't feeling too good, Lenny," she whispered. She gave him a tight squeeze. "When did you start feeling bad?"

"I had a headache last night, and my stomach started getting upset this morning. I thought I could just power through today and sleep when I got home, but last period I started feeling like I was gonna throw up…" He swallowed thickly and tried to suppress any possibility of him getting sick at the moment. If he puked on Rin he would throw himself off a cliff.

"Have you thrown up yet?" Rin asked. If he got sick, then whatever he had would have a much higher chance of spreading to more people. It would really suck if other people got sick right before Christmas.

"Not yet…" he mumbled. But he was certain that he would eventually, and he was starting to feel the acid rise up in his throat. He cleared his throat and pulled away from his friend. Rin wasn't so quick to let him out of the hug, but did let go. He was half way standing up when she did. He briskly walked over to the teacher and cleared his throat again.

"Can I use the restroom?" he asked. Please say yes please say yes please say yes.

The teacher looked up at him and nodded. Len hurried out of the room, not even bothering to take the pass. He started to sprint, but his stomach started hurting again. He let out a small noise of pain and hunched over, holding his stomach. He pressed on, trying to get to the bathroom as quickly as he could. He could feel himself start to get hot and he knew he didn't have much time. He wasn't going to make it to the bathroom. He spotted a trash can next to the water fountain down the hall and decided to go to that instead. He put one hand over his mouth and stopped where he was. The pain was so intense that he couldn't move. He didn't want to be sick on the floor though. He forced himself to move and he did make it to the trash can before he started retching. He wrapped his arms tightly around his stomach to try and lessen the pain, but his stomach convulsed and he retched again, this time bringing up some of his breakfast into the trash can. He heaved again, unable to stop. He retched several more times into the trash can, each one burning his throat and making his stomach hurt even worse. It felt like eternity before he finally could stop and breathe. He wasn't finished, but he could at least catch his breath. He heard a door open and he turned his head to look. Several teachers had poked their heads out to see who was barfing out in the hallway. Len quickly turned his head back and squeezed his eyes shut. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. He didn't think that fucking everyone on the top floor would be able to hear him. Ah, shit. He probably made someone else get sick from having to listen to him...He felt terrible. Physically and mentally.

He didn't have long to feel embarrassed, however, because a sudden heave jerked him down. He gagged and coughed, spitting vomit into the trash can. He paused to take a breath again, and he could hear the classroom closest to him laughing. His heart sunk. He just wanted the day to end at that point. He couldn't take it anymore. He heaved one more time and finally felt like he was finished. He dry heaved a little bit, but nothing was coming up. He spit into the trash can, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stood up, a little slouched still from the pain in his stomach. He turned around and was horrified to find that the principal was standing behind him. Fuck. He didn't hear an announcement telling him to come get him. Could he hear him from all the way downstairs?

"You alright?" he asked. Len automatically nodded. He was too embarrassed to speak. Luckily, the principal didn't ask any further questions. He just grabbed his arm gently and led him downstairs to the nurse's office. The day only continued to get worse as an announcement came on telling the janitor that there was a situation upstairs, and the classrooms they passed by were all laughing. Len just walked on in silence, but it still hurt. It's not like he could help that he threw up…

The nurse had him lie down on the small bench in her office while she dug a thermometer out of her drawer. He was definitely going home, there was no need to take his temperature. She just felt like she should check for a temperature, because he looked really clammy and pale.

She decided that sticking it in his mouth might make him gag, so she had him hold it under his armpit. When it beeped, she took it out.

"Oh, honey…" she said sadly. "102.4…" She looked over at him on the bed. "You're really sick, hun. Why did you come to school today?" Len just shrugged. He didn't want to talk. He was mortified from the experience.

"Knock knock," a familiar voice called out from the doorway. Len's mom smiled sadly at him. "Hey baby," she said, walking over to him. "They told me you weren't feeling good. Said you threw up," she said. She sat down on the bench beside him. She put her hand on his forehead and frowned. "Your forehead is on fire, sweetheart." She brushed his hair out of his face and put the back of her hand on his cheek for a moment, then pulled her hand away. She looked at him. He looked back. He didn't want to say anything.

"You ready to go home?" she asked. Len nodded, knowing he would have to reply to that. As long as he didn't have to speak. His mom nodded back and stood up. She held her hand out to help him up. Len sat up and put one hand on his belly and grabbed hers with the other. They walked out of the office together, his mom walking closer to him than she normally would.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" she asked. They started walking upstairs, because Len's coat and phone were in his locker, and he kinda needed those. Len shrugged in reply. His mom was patient with him and didn't push for a reply. She figured he was just tired.

They reached his locker right as teachers were letting the students out to go to their next class. Len inwardly groaned. It was incredibly obvious who it was that puked in the hallway since his mom was with him. He tried not to look at anyone as he got his stuff out of his locker.

"Hey," a voice called out from behind. Whoever it was, Len didn't want to talk to them. They were going to bring it up.

Someone tapped on his shoulder. He was getting irritated and turned around to glare at them. He was surprised to find it was Rin. She was looking at him with worry in her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Rin asked. "We heard someone getting sick in the hallway…" Len sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, that was me…" he muttered. Rin pouted.

"Aw, man, I didn't know it was that bad…" she said. "I'm sorry, I hope you're feeling better now that that's out of your system." She gave him a quick hug. "I'll text you later, okay? I gotta go to class, bye!" She waved and ran off down the hall. Len watched her go, then grabbed his coat out of his locker, made sure his phone was in his back pocket, and then slammed the door shut. His locker didn't want to close unless it was slammed, so he had to do that.

His mom put her hand on his shoulder and led him back downstairs and outside to the car. The moment the car turned on Len turned off the heat. His mom looked at him curiously.

"Do you feel hot?" she asked. Len looked at her, wondering if she was talking about his fever or not, and then nodded.

"I feel more nauseous if I'm warm…" he mumbled. It was true. Both times he felt like throwing up, his whole body felt hot. He didn't want to get carsick. His mom nodded and dealt with being in a freezing cold car for his sake. She didn't want him to feel any more sick than he already did. Besides, if he threw up in the car, she would be the one to clean it up.

They lived fairly close to the school. Len normally walked to school, but when it was snowy out, his mom drove him. Not that she would make him walk home now if it was warm outside. The car ride home was short. That was a good thing, considering Len was looking a little pale.

The moment they got inside, Len immediately went up to his room and took off his clothes, leaving just his boxers. He was incredibly hot. He turned on the fan in the corner of the room, then moved it so it was right next to his bed. He lied down in bed, heaving a heavy sigh of relief, as he could finally relax and rest. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment, then sat up. He looked around for his trash can and found it beside his door. He got out of bed and dragged it over beside the fan. If he woke up feeling nauseous, it would be easy to grab quickly. Finally, he lied down and closed his eyes. The sound of the fan lulled him to sleep.


End file.
